It was August of 2021. The world was deep in the throes of a global pandemic. And while it feels almost wrong to say, Jeff was thriving. While the world had quickly turned itself upside-down, Jeff had stepped into a better job, left a toxic relationship, sold his duplex, somehow managed to buy the lake house he had always wanted and restored his dream classic boat. It was at this time in his life that Jeff was working on independent personal growth and was quietly hitting his stride in this temporary life of solitude. In fact, he was getting a little too good at it and started to become concerned with how well this extrovert was doing. So, Jeff decided he should incorporate something like a group exercise program into his routine, something with structured in-person social time. It was during this era of motivation and mild self-intervention that Jeff met Madison, a cycling instructor who offered way more than he bargained for. Years later, Madison will give him shit, saying he ignored her, that he refused to respond to her advances. To this day, Madison will regularly berate him for being slow to recognize that she would regularly swap bikes to sit next to him. She’ll say she was dropping hints. She’ll dramatically say she was basically begging for any sign of life. Madison will say it with enough conviction that you almost believe her. But the truth is, Jeff noticed her immediately. He just wouldn’t trust these heartfelt advances. Jeff is always wary of interpersonal relationships at someone’s place of business, especially when the person is financially compensated to be encouraging, upbeat, and nice. He had a hard time crossing this threshold of authentic romance, and understandably so at someone’s occupation. Jeff actively worked to pay little attention to Madison. “That’s like believing the bartender thinks you’re cute” he would say or “She’s LITERALLY paid to be nice to me!” It was not obliviousness turned aloofness; it was calculated. While Jeff was clearly smitten by Madison, he couldn’t let her know without risking misreading the situation and becoming “that guy.” However Madison, armed with her trademark stubbornness and being as determined as she is, was not about to let it go. Nothing was working to get through to him. Consequently, Madison did what any modern woman would do when “subtle” tact fails. It was at this time that an old friend of Madison was sure to help out: Instagram. Through several suspiciously convenient conversations and perfectly timed messages, Madison infiltrated Jeff’s social media. And once they were talking outside the studio walls, Jeff slowly started to realize there might be something here that had nothing to do with bikes or class attendance. That is, until Madison suggested that their first date would be to have Jeff go to her spin class and then get drinks across the street after. “What a bizarre way to increase her class attendance” he thought, still he agreed to go on this date. And once they were actually outside of the studio sitting side by side from each other at a bar on Telegraph Road, talking like normal humans, it clicked. She wasn’t “@MaddySpins,” she was so much more than that. She was just Madison. Funny, sharp, kind, adorably awkward, and brave, she was way more real than Jeff had expected. Frankly she was way more real than Jeff had planned. His “independent thriving” era had ended much quicker than he intended. It was about two or three dates later that Jeff had to quietly accept the fact that he might be in trouble. From there, it snowballed. Not in some dramatic rom-com way. More in the “this is clearly becoming a real thing whether we planned it or not” way. The pair have been together for almost five years now. Madison is currently in pending litigation with her former studio, but continues teaching elsewhere. Jeff no longer takes spin classes and maintains an on-again/off-again relationship with Instagram.

In a much less dramatic way, Madison was also doing well in Covid. She was hitting the stride of her late 20's- she bought her first house, was promoted at actual work, was loving her side hustle of teaching spin, and was spending lots of quality time with her family and friends. She was recently single and actively not looking to date for a while......and then along came Jeffrey. “You HAVE to meet Jeff P, he’s my favorite rider!” was the first time Madison learned of Jeffrey from a fellow instructor. Naturally, she took to social media to look him up. Well, if you know Jeffrey, that was not an easy feat. So she used her friend, Google, to find photo evidence of the elusive Jeff P. It wasn’t often that a single, straight, good looking guy came into the studio so, naturally, she immediately went to see when he was taking his next class and signed up on the bike right next to him. Some call it creepy, she called it resourceful. She tried to strike up a conversation and was met with a cold shoulder and some startling facial expressions in the mirror during class. Once she was ignored in person, Madison dug a little deep on Instagram and tried her hand there. It took a few days, but she knew she cracked him when she asked about River and his response was an enthusiastic “SO SHE’S A RESCUE.” Once she got him to admit that he was interested and he got her to stop using the phrase “hanging out” to describe their dates, the rest flowed naturally. They realized very quickly that something was just different about this relationship, it was missing a lot of the anxiety and uncertainty that they had experienced with previous partners. They had many firsts, dates, “I love you’s,” fights, trips, etc. that turned them into the couple that you see today. What started as a cold shoulder and a DM about excel quickly turned into four plus years of choosing each other every single day- through career changes, loss, shoes left on in the house, purses left on the dining room table, and an impressive number of home renovations. Along the way, Jeffrey and Madison built a relationship rooted in constant laughter, unwavering friendship, and the comforting realization that this was one relationship that always just felt easy (even when it wasn’t). After four years of building a life that they were proud of, Jeffrey did what felt inevitable to everyone around them and asked Madison to spend forever with him on a sailboat in Lake Michigan. Unsurprisingly, she said yes and already had half of the wedding planned.

August 2021: Jeffrey and Madison meet. Jeffrey ignores Madison. Madison is persistent. September 2021: Jeffrey realizes that he’s falling. Hard. Madison tries to remain aloof. She fails. November 2021: Jeffrey and Madison say the infamous “3 words, 8 letters” to each other. Yeah yeah, we know it’s fast. February 2022: Madison sneak moves in. She suspects that Jeffrey knew what was happening. Jeffrey denies any involvement. August 2022: Jeffrey and Madison celebrate one year together in her favorite place, Frankfort, MI. Note: Madison explains that she is uninterested in getting engaged anywhere but Frankfort. Subtly is still not her strong suit. April 2023: Madison officially moves in with Jeffrey and River & they rent out her “break up insurance.” May 2023: Jeffrey and Madison realize that “clean” and “organized” are two very different things. June 2023-December 2024: Jeffrey and Madison work hard to build a life that they love full of friends, family, boat rides, home renovations, quality River time, and so much more. January 2025: Jeffrey and Madison start to look at engagement rings. Jeffrey puts a deposit on a diamond and thinks Madison doesn’t notice. Madison notices, Jeffrey is standing 3 feet away from her and does not have an indoor voice. February 2025-July 2025: Madison becomes increasingly impatient at the lack of proposal and makes it the problem of everyone around her. August 2025: Jeffrey finally proposes in the most beautiful setting, and chooses to ignore the fact that Madison yelled at him for taking too long to propose 20 minutes prior.